NW CRICKET: T20 FESTIVAL DOMINATES WEEKEND ACTION

Michael Wilson

There was a break from regular league and cup action around the North West this weekend as the group stages of this season's Faughan Valley and Eric Cooke cup were played out around the region.

Although the full schedule was completed on Friday night, rain badly affected the Saturday programme with several matches decided by bowl out. Unfortunately for Newbuildings they were the worst affected and on the day they were due to play the first ever games at their new home ground, both contests fell foul of the weather and had to be decided by bowl-outs.

Peter Eakin and Billy Henderson presented a new kit to Bonds Glen skipper Graham Boyd at the weekend

As if that wasn't bad enough the home side went on to lose both games on the shoot-out therefore it's likely Newbuildings will put a line through Saturday and start again next month.

TOP MARKS FOR BREADY AS THEY START WITH A BIG WIN

Friday night's action: On to the action then and first up the four games on Friday where Bready produced the performance of the night in a 9-wicket win at home to Donemana. Imran Butt top scored for the visitors with 41 and Andy McBrine made 24 before a good spell from Andy Lucas (3-22) slowed up the run rate.

Scoring seemed to become more difficult after that and in the end Donemana had to settle for 114-5 from their 16 overs.

David Rankin (45*) and Iroosh Samarasooriya (41*) combined to good effect at the top of Bready's order after the loss of opener Kyle Hamilton as the home side won with plenty to spare.

Up the road at Magheramason Fox Lodge were edged out by Brigade in a low-scoring affair. Cebo Tshiki top scored for the Foxies as he made 38 with Luke Hayes (22) and Jamie McIntyre (19*) best of the rest in a total of 108 for 6 from 20 overs.

Jonny Robinson (2-33) fared best with the ball while an unbeaten 24 from Niall McDonnell and 23 from Johnny Thompson got the visitors over the line with 5 wickets and an over to spare.

The two Eric Cooke Cup games were both thrillers, the first at Bridge Park where a half century from Darnell McCallum (66) helped the home side to a 3-run win in a 16-over contest against Newbuildings. Graham Kennedy added 26 while Adam Warnock bowled really well to finish with figures of 3-11 as 'Spallen posted 133-5 in their allotted time.

Despite an unbeaten 74 from Peat Salmon, Marty Mehaffey's team came up just short- their second three-run defeat in a week following on from the same result in the league at St Johnston.

Bond's Glen hosted Killyclooney where the visitors made 146-3 from their 16 overs with Darren Moan top scoring with 45 not out. Andre Henry chipped in with 38 and Giles Moan 28 in that total and the Bee Gees gave it a real go in reply. Overseas man Jacob Mulder hit 53 and Michael McBeth 24 but 4-11 from Henry and 2 wickets for Aaron Parke saw the hosts come up just 8 runs short.

Saturday: The idea behind the T20 group "blitz" was to ensure that the games were all completed over a short period of time therefore the new rules also included a bowl-out in any games where no other result would have been possible. Unfortunately that was the case at a couple of venues on Saturday afternoon and frustratingly for Newbuildings that was to be the case for them.

The club had prepared hard in the run-up to what was supposed to be the first games ever played at their new, purpose-built venue but the rain had other ideas; wiping out both contests against St Johnston and then Strabane. The players retreated inside to the village community hall to escape the elements where the day got worse for the hosts.

They lost 3-1 in the first of those against the Donegal side and then went down again 2-0 the Red Caps, all but ending their interest in this year's competition before it had even begun.

In the other Championship games, Killyclooney maintained their perfect start as they powered past both Burndennett and Glendermott as Darren Moan's men teed themselves up for a place in the semi-finals. Half centuries for Giles Moan and Andre Henry were enough to see off Burndennett in the first match while the second was a much less frantic affair with Henry claiming four wickets to see Glendermott all out for just 64 as they tried to chase 103.

Bready picked up where they left off against Donemana as they crushed Drummond by 10 wickets at the Roe Valley venue. Three wickets each for Andy Lucas and David Scanlon saw the home side ripped out for only 25 runs in total and Bready wasted very little time in wrapping up the huge win.

To be fair to Drummond they recovered well to win their second game against Eglinton. An unbeaten half century from Adam McDaid was enough for Chris Moore's team to claim their first win of the season as Drummond chased down the villagers' score of 104 with 7 wickets to spare.

Ardmore needed a bowl out to account for Fox Lodge after late afternoon rain ended any hope of play in that one but before that the Bleachgreen side trounced Coleraine by 8 wickets. A solid bowling display led by skipper Gary Neely saw the Bannsiders all out for a paltry 55 and the Bleachgreen boys met with little trouble as they got those easily to pick up maximum points.

Sunday: Having lost heavily at Ardmore on Saturday, Coleraine were back on the winning trail on Sunday with two convincing wins of their own against Donemana and Bready. It was all about their depth of bowling reserves throughout the day as Graham Hume and Steve Lazars in particular were bang on the money.

Coleraine's first match was against Brigade and saw the biggest collapse of the season so far as the visitors slumped from 38-0 to 52 all out after Gareth McKeegan had given them a decent start. Hume claimed 4-10 and Lazars and Scott Campbell picked up 3 each in a 60-run win.

Earlier, South African Hume had made an unbeaten 54 as the Bannsiders scored 112-3.

In the second game, David Cooke and Scott Campbell batted the whole way through the 20 overs as they posted 129-0 against Fox Lodge.

Cebo Tshiki top scored for the Ballymagorry men in their reply however Hume helped himself to three more wickets and both Lazars and Chopra claimed two each to cap a good day for the north coast team.

Eglinton played twice as well; the villagers losing to Donemana in the first of those after a half century from Imran Butt helped the reigning North West champions to a total of 135-5 while Dwayne McGerrigle took three wickets and Andy McBrine two as the villagers came up 48 runs short.

Things got better for the home side in the final fixture as Ross Allen and Andy Millar helped them to a decent score of 136-3 against Bready.

Trevor Garwe picked up three wickets in the reply as Bready were all out for 82- their first loss in the group phase.